Beautiful Poem by Rumi: Pink Ink , Blue Ink+White Gouache on paper

“What you see lies in the mirror,

though it’s your own, and not the mirror’s,

The breath that’s blown within the flute,

Who owns it, the flute or you?”

Translation taken from: 

The Illustrated Rumi: A Treasury of Wisdom from the Poet of the Soul

Philip Dunn (Author), Manuela M. Dunn (Author), R.A.Nicholson (Author)

Read this in a book by Terry Pratchett, one of my favourite authors - how can you not like an author who makes death seem cute and adorable.

Pieces of  my Soul - Brush, Ink, Gouache on paper

A Community of the Spirit” by Rumi - Present for a dear friend (http://prettyux.tumblr.com/), her favorite poem

There is a community of the spirit.
Join it, and feel the delight
of walking in the noisy street
and being the noise.

Drink all your passion,
and be a disgrace.

Close both eyes
to see with the other eye.

Open your hands,
if you want to be held.

Sit down in the circle.

Quit acting like a wolf, and feel
the shepherd’s love filling you.

At night, your beloved wanders.
Don’t accept consolations.

Close your mouth against food.
Taste the lover’s mouth in yours.

You moan, “She left me.” “He left me.”
Twenty more will come.

Be empty of worrying.
Think of who created thought!

Why do you stay in prison
when the door is so wide open?

Move outside the tangle of fear-thinking.
Live in silence.

Flow down and down in always
widening rings of being.

From Rumi – Selected Poems (Penguin Classics)

Translated by Coleman Barks with John Moyne

Taken from:

http://www.poetseers.org/spiritual_and_devotional_poets/contemp/rumibarks/1/

Why …Ornate Calligraphy…drawn at Bagels and Beans .. 

“One”…tried for the first time the capital ‘ornamental’ letters from scriptures.

Lesson:  to not use Golden marker for fine work, will use a fine brush next time.

Back to the basics…Messed up while making a piece and went back to practice. The individual letters need much work but liked the overall look.